My Divergent Story
by Umbreon89
Summary: I wrote this based on me and what I would do if I lived in the world of the factions. Please note: this story does NOT follow the same story line as Divergent. So there is no simulation fight against the Abnegation, and none of the characters are the same. It's just the factions. The Divergent story/the factions system belongs to Veronica Roth
1. Chapter 1

I twined my arm around my best friend, Kaley, on our way to school. The other Amity girls surround us in a cloud of red and yellow, all giggling and skipping like good Amity children should.

I hate it.

For all 16 years of my life I've been waiting for this day. I'm finally 16, which means I can leave my faction behind, but leaving Amity behind also means abandoning my family. I always thought it would be easy, but now that it's almost time, it's not as easy as it seems.

My whole family is Amity. My parents grew up here. They're peaceful and happy, and as far as they know, I am too. An entire family, Amity at heart. Well, except for my brother.

Nick is my older brother. Well, I guess I should say _was_, faction before blood, right? Anyway, three years ago, during his choosing ceremony, he left us for Erudite. We all knew he would leave us, but it still hurt. Nick was smart; always curious about everything, never content knowing just the basics. For him, the choice was simple.

Not so much for me.

I've always known I didn't belong in Amity, but I never really knew where I would go. Of course, it should be simple. I'm smart and very curious about everything. I crave knowledge, just like my brother. I could choose Erudite; I'd be perfect for it.

But there's another part of me- the part of me that shudders at the idea of living my whole life with my nose in a book. That part of me thirsts for adventure, to feel the rush of adrenalin as I jump off a moving train…that's why Dauntless calls to me.

Kaley and I skip into the cafeteria and sit down with the rest of the Amity children. We all form a circle and start playing "Quack Diddly Oh-ma." I had just slapped Kaley's hand when I feel someone sit down next to me. I turn my head and see Daniel squeezing his way into the circle. I flash him a smile as he sits down. "Hi, Daniel." Daniel and I had been friends since I was born. Our mothers grew up as friends, so we always used to see each other. I think our families expect us to grow up together and get married one day, but I know that won't happen, since I'm leaving Amity.

"So, today's the big day, huh?" He says in that cheerful way all Amity talk. "Yeah, I just want it to be over." I say as he slaps my hand.

After the last of the people have trickled in, they start calling names. Kaley is called in the first group. We hug her and tell her good luck, but she won't need it; she's Amity through and through.

After the first few rounds of people are called, I hear my name. "Elizabeth Heather." Daniel rises with me and gives me a quick hug. "See you in a bit." He whispers. I just nod as I turn and walk away.

When I walk into the testing room, I'm not surprised to see Abnegation gray on the woman sitting there. "Please take a seat." She says sweetly. "My name is Jane." I settle into the seat as Jane places the electrodes on our heads. "Here, drink this." She says as she hands me a vial of clear water. I nod and swallow it in one gulp. Soon after, my head starts to feel heavy, and I close my eyes.

I open my eyes and I'm in an empty room. In front of me is a table with a long, deadly looking knife, and a piece of cheese. "Choose," says a voice behind me. I turn around, but no one is there. I look back to the table. "Why?" I ask. "Just choose." The voice repeats. I turn back to the table. This is an aptitude test, isn't it? So I should do what my instincts tell me to do, and right now, I am feeling fairly stubborn.

I reach out and to pick up both of them, but my hand touches the knife first, and the cheese disappears.

I study the knife. It is long and sharp. I run my hand along the blade, feeling the edges pierce my fingertip. I smile despite myself; I've never been allowed to hold anything dangerous before.

I hear a low growling behind me. I spin around to see a husky slithering towards me. I place the knife in the waistband of my jeans. I don't want to kill the dog. My mind whirls with thoughts. How can I calm down the dog? I need to show it that I'm not the enemy, that he is better than I am, because maybe then he'll stop. I remember something. Dogs expose their necks and stomachs to other dogs to show submission. I slowly get down onto my back. I stretch my limbs away from my body and angle my neck up. The dog comes closer. I squeeze my eyes shut, prepared to feel the sharp bite of a dog.

Instead I feel the dog's wet tongue. I laugh and sit up. The husky is wagging its tail at me. I rub its head. "Not so violent anymore, are you?" He barks with joy and licks my face. "Doggy!" I spin around to see the dog leap at a little girl behind me. I don't think, I just act. I run and push the girl out of the way and the dog tackles me. I reach behind me and grab the knife. "I'm sorry." I whisper as I stab the knife towards the dog.

When I stand up, I see a door in front of me. I wipe the tears from my eyes and open the door. I step onto a bus. I grab onto the ceiling rails as the bus moves along. "Do you know this man?" I turn to the man addressing me. He is showing me a newspaper article on a criminal. The criminals face is on the front. He seems familiar, as if I've seen him before, but I feel that if I were to say this, something bad would happen to me. So I keep a straight face on and ask, "Why do you want to know?" The man gives me a look. "If you know him, you could save my life." I look at him and think. I could tell him the truth, and possibly save him, or I could keep it a secret, and possibly save myself. "I do not know him." I say evenly. "I'm sorry." The man's arm grabs my wrist. "Are you _sure _you don't know this man?" I yank my arm out of his grip. "I'm _positive_."

I open my eyes and look at Jane. She's looking at me strangely, as if deep in thought. She quickly types something into a computer next to her. I can hear it beeping as she types. Finally, she looks back at me, but her expression is troubled. "Is there a problem?" I ask. "Yes." Jane says hesitantly. "You're results were…inconclusive." I stare at her. "Inconclusive?" I ask. "What do you mean?" Jane sighs. "Each part of the test factors out a different faction. By the end, four factions should be factored out, leaving only one factor." She says. "But some people don't get every faction factored out. Only two or three factions get factored out." She looks at me. "These people are called…divergent." She says it at a whisper, and her eyes are crazed as she says, "You must never tell anyone that. It is very dangerous. Your mind cannot be controlled and cannot be told how to think." I swallow my panic and, somehow, speak in a controlled voice. "What factions did I have aptitude for?" I ask. "Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation." My breath stops in my chest and I listen closely to her next words. "By choosing both the knife, you show aptitude for Dauntless. Then, by submitting to the dog, you showed aptitude for Erudite. When you knocked the girl out of the way, you showed aptitude for Abnegation, and when you killed the dog, you showed aptitude for Dauntless." I close my eye and take a deep breath. "I manually entered Dauntless into your results. I was able to do it so it wouldn't be noticed, so as long as you behave and act as you should, you'll live." I give her a weak smile. "Thank you." I get up and leave the room.

As Daniel and I walk home, he turns to me. "What did you get on your aptitude test?" I keep a straight face on as I say, "we're not permitted to speak of it, Daniel." Daniel bites his lip. "Lizzie, I didn't get Amity." He says quietly. "What should I do?" I give him a long look. "Danny," I start, "you should go wherever you think you will enjoy yourself the most." Daniel gives me a weak smile. "Spoken like a true Amity." He turns and walks away, towards his house.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day as I arrive to the choosing ceremony, I think hard about what I want to choose. Dauntless I was expecting, but I thought Amity was in my past, or was I wrong? Could I live the rest of my life in Amity, living peacefully with my family? Could I be the good child? Or Abnegation? Could I always be the one to volunteer to help, to clean up after meals and help people carry their groceries home? Or Dauntless, which the mere thought of makes my blood rush. I sigh at my indecision I trust myself that, in the heat of the moment, I will make the right choice.

We all stand in a line, all of the 16 year olds of each faction, and wait for us to decide our fate forever. I stand next to Daniel. His last name is Hill, so we're always next to each other, but I will go first.

Suddenly, everyone is silent. A representative from Dauntless stands up. "Today, these kids will make a choice. They can either stay with their families in their birth factions, or they can transfer into a new one." I scan the Erudite, looking for my brother. "It takes a great deal of bravery to leave ones family behind, but in the end, you must trust yourself to choose the faction where you belong." As an added thought, almost as if he is reluctant, he says, "faction before blood." The crowd repeats his words as the first person is called. "Chloe Aster." A girl in Erudite blue steps out of the line and heads towards the Dauntless man. He silently hands her the knife. She silently slides the knife down her palm and drips her blood into the bowl of water. Erudite. "Jonah Atterman." I zone out as other names are called. Then the Dauntless man calls out, "Elizabeth Heather." I catch Nick's eye in the crowd of Erudite right before I step up and take the knife from the man. No one has transferred yet. I will have to be the first.

I slide the knife down my palm. As I give the knife back to the Dauntless man, I look back and forth from the Erudite bowl and the Dauntless bowl, and I realize, the decision is easy. Do I want to work hard all of my life, always surrounded by smart asses, or do I want to feel the thrill of an adventure? With no doubt in my mind of my decision, I drip my blood onto the coals. Dauntless.

I hear the gasps from the Amity behind me. Lizzie Heather, a transfer? I was always so giggly and bubbly, but not anymore. Lizzie Heather is gone. I hear the cheers from the Dauntless as I walk towards them. Many of them slap me on the back and congratulate me. I look back at my parents quickly and see them in tears. I glance back to the Erudite, to me brother, and he gives me a smile and a nod. I turn away from him as the crowd dies down. "Daniel Hill." The Dauntless man calls.

As Daniel walks out, he glances at me. I give him an encouraging nod, telling him to do what he wants to do. As he takes the knife and cuts his palm, he does the one thing I least expected him to do. He put his hand over the Dauntless bowl and lets his blood sizzle against the coals. He comes and stands next to me, and for the first time in my life, I greet Daniel not with the normal Amity hug, but with a firm, Dauntless handshake.

As we leave the ceremony, I do not look back at my parents. I run with the Dauntless down the stairs and out the door. We run to the train tracks. Daniel runs beside me. When we get to the tracks, the Dauntless fan out into a single-file line as we wait for the train.

When we see the train approaching, we begin to run along with the train. The Dauntless grab onto the handles on the side of the train and pull them in. When it's my turn, I jump to the side and grip the handle. I swing myself into the train car. I roll along the floor before I get up and dust myself off, a ridiculous grin on my face. I head to the opening in the train car and see Daniel struggling to keep up. "Come on, Daniel!" I say as I reach out my hand to him. He grabs it and I pull him into the car. He collapses on the ground, taking deep breaths. He finally smiles wildly at me.

After about half and hour, someone yells, "They're jumping off!" I get up and go to the side. Sure enough, the Dauntless are jumping off of the moving train and onto the seven story roof top. "Let's go!" I shout. I back up, grab Daniel's hand, and run as fast as I can to the opening.

I leap into the air. For a split second, I'm completely airborne. Then I'm falling onto the rooftop. I roll on the ground for a bit before bumping into Daniel. We sit up, take one look at each other's faces, and start cracking up. "That was so much fun!" Daniel says. I laugh. "The Amity could learn a thing or two!"

Once everyone was on the roof, someone stepped up onto the ledge. "Alright, now, we need to get into Dauntless headquarters, and there's only one way there, _down_." Everybody stares at him. He says "you have to jump off of the roof and into the hole down there. Then you'll be there." He looks at all of our stunned faces. "Well? Someone has to go first." Before the words were even out of his mouth, I say, "I'll go first." I surprise myself at that. I don't know when I decided to go first, but now I was stuck with it. I walk up to the front of the group. I step onto the ledge and take a deep breath. Before I could convince myself not to, I gathered my yellow dress into my hand and leaped.

I was falling fast. The wind was whistling by my ears and I was fighting the urge to scream. I fall through the hole and bounce onto a net at the bottom. Someone yanks on the net and helps me down. I look up at them. It's a man, not much older than me. He looks at me. "Amity? Amity was first jumper? Tell me about a shocker." He smirks. "What's your name?" I pause for a moment. Lizzie just doesn't suit me anymore, but what else could I go by? "Ellie." I say. He nods. "First jumper-Ellie!" I hear the cheers of the other dauntless and can't help but smile. He looks back at me. "My name's Jay." He says. "Welcome to Dauntless."


	3. Chapter 3

"This is where you will be sleeping for your time as an initiate." Jay leads us into a room with 12 beds in rows. "Everyone?" A Candor girl asks. "Boys and girls?" Jay turns to her. "Yes," he says, "do you have a problem with that?" The Candor girl opens her mouth to respond, but before she can Jay buts in. "The first thing you must learn," he says quietly, "Is that you aren't Candor anymore, and you need to keep your mouth shut." The Candor girl shut her mouth. "Any other questions?" The room was silent. "Alright. You have clothing on the shelf over there. Dinner is in two hours."

Daniel and I sit down on two beds directly next to each other. "I'm going to get out of this." I say as I walk towards the shelf. I bump into an Erudite girl and she drops her clothes. "Oh, I'm sorry." I say. I bend down to help her. She smiles at me. She is short and small. She has short blond hair that stops at her chin. "It's alright." She extends her hand. "I'm Hailey." I shake her hand, still unfamiliar with the gesture. "Ellie." I say. The name sounds foreign on my lips. I grab my own set of clothes and frown at it. "I don't want to wear the same thing as everyone else is." Hailey giggles. "Well, we get credits for the store. Want to go get something new?"

Hailey and I walk through the stores, looking for something different. Of course, my eyes always go straight to the frilly dresses, but I am not Amity anymore. I need to wear something…tougher. Hailey guides me to a rack of clothes. It's covered in all types of black shirt. I peruse through the rack, looking for something. Finally, I just pull out a simple black t-shirt and black jeans. They cost one credit each.

After I've paid, I look back for Hailey. She approaches me with a black dress. The dress goes down to her knees and is skin tight. She pays for it and we head back to the room.

When we get there, I am thankful that no one else is here. But that doesn't last long. Just as I have taken off my shirt, Daniel walks in. Instead of covering myself up, I continue changing with a sigh. I'll have to get used to this.

When I'm done, I turn back to Daniel. His cheeks are pink. "Hi, L-" "It's Ellie now." I say quickly. Daniel just nods. "Ellie. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go walk around." Before I could answer, Hailey buts in. "We could all go get tattoos!" I smile. "Great idea. I'm in." I look over to Daniel with an eyebrow raised. He sighs. "Fine, let's go."

The tattoo parlor is very loud. There are designs for tattoos everywhere. I'm perusing through, looking for something I want. I decide I want something to represent me. I pick out birds. There are four birds. One for each person in my family. A woman approaches me. "So, are you going to get a tattoo?" I nod and hand her the birds. "Yes. I want this on my collarbone."

When it's done, we head out of the shop. "That was great!" Hailey exclaims. I smile. "Yeah." Hailey got a flower on the small of her back. Daniel got the Amity sign on his left shoulder blade.

As the initiates all walk into the cafeteria, the Dauntless all cheer. I grin at Daniel. We sit down towards the end of the cafeteria, with Hailey on my left and Daniel on my right. At our table is Jay with some of his friends, and some other initiates. We try to ignore them. One of them is Julia, a girl from Candor. Her boyfriend is Mark, also from Candor. Sitting across from them is Ryan and Brianna from Erudite.

"So do we start initiation tomorrow?" I ask. "I think so," answers Hailey, "but I don't know much about it." I shrug as I take a bite of my hamburger. "Guess we'll find out."


	4. Chapter 4

"Today, we learn to shoot a gun." Jay says. We are all in the training room. In front of us a wall with a target for each of us. Beside Jay is another man. I haven't seen him before. Behind Jay is a table filled with guns. "Everybody come and grab a gun. Nobody is to do anything with it until you are told to." We all grab a gun from the table and line up facing the targets. "Watch me shoot and then you try." Jay positions his feet and points the gun in front of him. I watch his positions and how he holds himself. As he shoots, he expects the recoil, and doesn't jerk back from it. He shoots a couple of times, and each time I observe a different part of his positions, memorizing every angle. He finally puts down the gun and turns to us. "Now it's your turn." Before we can start, another voice buts in. "Wait for a moment." The man who was standing next to Jay starts forward. "My name is Kevin, and I'm a Dauntless leader." He scans the crowd. "I will be helping Jay with your training." It's silent for a moment before he says, "Well? Get to it!"

I shift my feet into position and steady the gun out before me. I aim for the center of the target and hope for the best. I take a deep breath and hold it. As I pull the trigger, I release the air I was holding. The recoil jerks me back, and the bullet misses the target. I try again and again, but each time I miss. "Hey Ellie, nice job, you've managed to kill the wall!" That was Brianna. I take a deep breath and ignore her. This time when I shoot, I am ready for the recoil. When I check my target, I see the bullet ripped right through the bulls-eye. I grin and look over at Brianna. She is trying a little too hard to not look my way and I smirk. "Nice job, Ellie!" Hailey flashes me a smile as she shoots her gun. She's not doing very well. She's hitting the target, but only barely. I look over at Daniel. He's a pro at this. He's hit two bulls-eyes and all his other bullets hit close to it.

Later on, in the dormitories, Hailey, Daniel, and I all sit on my bed and talk. "Some first day of initiation, right? I mean, they taught us how to shoot on the first day!" Hailey grins at us as she lies back onto my pillow. "It was okay." Daniel shrugs as he leans back opposite Hailey on the bedpost. "Okay?" I exclaim. "You were a pro at it! No wonder you got Dauntless on your aptitude test!" Daniel says nothing. Hailey just sighs. "I just hope I get better. Only the top 10 initiates are actually allowed to become members." "What?" Daniel and I exclaim simultaneously. "Yeah," Hailey says, "at the end of initiation, they will rank us with the Dauntless born initiates and the top 10 become members. The others become factionless." Daniel and I stare at her. "There are only seven transfers." I say slowly. "How many Dauntless born are there?" Hailey looks at me. "13 Dauntless born initiates." I groan. "Great. Absolutely fantastic."

Today we are learning how to fight. Jay showed us how to punch and kick and then told us to practice on the bags. My hands are red and bloody from nonstop punching, but I can't hit it hard enough. Jay is walking through the crowd. I watch him stop Hailey. She's having as much difficulty as I am, but once again, Daniel seems to be on a roll. Jay shows Hailey how to position herself. I can overhear him talking with her. "Keep tension in your stomach, and hit with your elbows and knees. You're small, not strong, but you are fast, so use that for you." I see Hailey revise her stance, and I do the same. I hit the bag with my elbows and knees, and for once, I am sure of myself.

"Alright, time to test what you've learned!" We all stop punching our bags and look at Kevin. He has a wild grin on his face. "Time to fight. Daniel and Mark, you're up first." Daniel and Mark head into the ring. They position themselves opposite each other, their arms up to protect themselves. My stomach twists with worry. Mark isn't amazing, but he isn't weak either. At least it's not Ryan, he's like a machine. Daniel throws a punch at Mark, but he dodges it. Mark swings his legs out to trip Daniel, but Daniel jumps over them. They rotate each other, waiting for the other man to make a move. Mark throws a punch at Daniel, but Daniel throws up his forearm and blocks the blow. Daniel swings his legs out and Mark falls to the ground. Daniel looks at Kevin, waiting for him to call it off. Kevin looks board. "What are you looking at me for?" He asks. "Well, when are we done?" Daniel asks. Kevin looks horrified at the question. "The fight is over when one of you is knocked out or so messed up you can't fight anymore." Daniel stares at Kevin for a moment before turning back to Mark. Daniel kicks Mark, over and over, until Mark stops fighting back.

Afterwards, Daniel and I are sitting by the chasm, listening to the roar of the water. My shoulder still stings from the tattoos I got. I got the Dauntless sign on my right shoulder blade. Underneath it, I got the Amity and the Erudite sign. They aren't as big as the Dauntless sign, but they are there to represent my family. My mother and father in Amity, my brother in Erudite, and me, in Dauntless. "You did great today." I say to Daniel, but he just sighs. "I wish I didn't have to. I don't like hurting people." I look at Daniel. "No one _likes _hurting people, but we don't have any other choice. We signed up for this when we joined Dauntless. No one forced us." I say. Daniel just mutters something inaudible. "What?" I ask. "You mean no one force _you._" I blink in confusion. "What do you mean?" I ask. Daniel looks at me. "Do you remember," He asks quietly, "they day of the aptitude test, when I told you I didn't get Amity?" He looks at me and I nod. "I didn't get Dauntless either." I look at him, weighing his words. "What did you get?" I ask softly. "My results were…inconclusive. I got Abnegation and Candor. I was going to go to Abnegation, because maybe then I would be able to…never mind." I lean into him. "Me too." I say softly. "I got Dauntless, Abnegation, and Erudite." Daniel turns to me. "Why did you choose Dauntless, if your aptitude test didn't tell you to?" He looks down. "Because _you_ choose Dauntless. I didn't care what faction I was in; I just wanted to be with _you_." He looks up into my eyes, and I can see the longing in his eyes. "Ellie, I've been in love with you since we were 12." As I stare at him, weighing his words, he takes a deep breath. "It's okay if you don't care about me the same way I care about you. I don't expect you to. I just wanted you to know-" I cut him off as I kiss him. I've always cared for Daniel, he was my best friend since I was born, and this felt right.

As we sit down at dinner that night, Hailey could tell something was different. Don't ask me how, because I have no clue, but she was sending me wry smiles across the table all night. Maybe it was the fact that Daniel and I were sitting closer together than normal, or maybe it was how we blushed whenever we caught each other's eye…or maybe it was because he kissed me before we left.

When we got back to our room, Hailey corners me on my bed. "Okay, spill." She says. I chuckle. "We were by the chasm…" I begin, but I don't know what to tell her. I tell her everything, leaving out the part with our aptitude results. Being Divergent is dangerous, and I can't risk anyone overhearing. Hailey shrieks in delight. "I was just _waiting _for something to happen between you two! It was obvious he liked you, and I was sure you would warm to him in that way. I mean, you've been best friends all of your life!" "Quiet down, Hailey! People will hear you!" She giggles. "So? Who cares what they think?" We giggle and talk like all girls should until someone, Ryan I think, tells us to "SHUT THE **** UP!"


	5. Chapter 5

"For a few days, you will each have one fight a day, with the exception of one of you, since you have an odd number." Kevin looks at the chalkboard, where our fights are posted. I'm up against Julia. Daniel has the day off, and Hailey is against Brianna. I'm worried for Hailey. Brianna is large, and is much stronger. I just hope Hailey can pull it off. I'm less worried about myself. Julia and I are fairly equal partners. She isn't as small as I am, so she isn't as fast as I am, but she isn't big enough to be strong, but she is vicious. I need to stay on my feet if I want to win. "Mark and Ryan, you're first!" Their fight takes a while. They are both strong, but it's obvious that Ryan is the stronger of the two, so when Mark falls down and doesn't get up, I'm not surprised. "Ellie and Julia, it's your turn." "Good luck, Ellie." Daniel smiles at me, and I smile back as I walk into the ring. Jay wasn't paying much attention to the last fight, but now he is. Julia and I circle each other. I watch her, waiting for any sign that she's going to throw a punch. She swings at me and hits me square in the jaw. The blow shakes me up, but I'm still good, and I learned something useful. If you watch, she shifts her wait onto the opposite foot as the fist that will punch, so when I see her shift her wait to her left foot, I dodge out of the way of her right fist. While her momentum is still going, I slam my elbow into her back and swing my legs out, tripping her. She grunts as she lands, and I kick her hard in the stomach before she can get up. I don't feel bad about this, even though I should. If I want to become a member of Dauntless, I have to be able to do this. Besides, it's not like she wouldn't do the same to me if our roles were reversed. I kick her in the head. Not too hard, but hard enough that she's knocked out.

As I step out of the ring, Kevin grins at me. "Nice job, Ellie. I may have underestimated you." But Daniel has the opposite reaction. "Congrats." He murmurs. He won't meet my eye. I finally feel a flash of guilt for what I did. When I look up, I notice Jay watching me, but he quickly looks away once he notices me staring back. "Hailey and Brianna." They walk into the ring, and Brianna doesn't give Hailey much time to prepare before she throws a punch at Hailey. Hailey's head snaps back and she is unprepared for Brianna's next hit. Brianna shows no mercy. She punches and punches until finally Hailey falls to the ground unconscious. As Brianna steps out of the ring, Daniel and I rush in to help Hailey. She groans as we reach her. I glare at Brianna over my shoulder and she just shrugs. "Not all of us are Dauntless material. Best to figure out who doesn't belong before they drag you down, Ellie." I ignore her and get Hailey on her feet. She puts her arm around Daniel and me's shoulder and we walk her back to the room.

Daniel and I lie Hailey down on her bed. She groans. "Maybe...maybe Brianna was right. Maybe I'm not Dauntless material." I shake my head. "Don't say that. When you're feeling better, we can go and train. I can help you get better. Maybe-" I was about to say that maybe Daniel would help her too, but he is already gone. Something tells me he doesn't approve of Dauntless initiation. "Maybe," I continue, "you will improve." Hailey smiles up at me. "Thanks, Ellie, now go to him." I don't need to ask how she knows.

"Daniel, wait up!" I finally catch up to Daniel in a hallway near our room. "Daniel, what's gotten into you?" I ask, trying to catch my breath. He whirls on me, and his eyes pulse with anger. "What's gotten into _you_? You used to be so sweet! You would've never even considered beating someone up like that! How could you just _do_ that?" I stare at him. "Daniel, I'm doing what I have to do. If I want to become a Dauntless member, I need to show no mercy. It's not like Julia wouldn't have beaten me up if she could've." He turns away from me. "Danny," I say softly as I put a hand on his shoulder, "that little girl was never me. I pretended to be that sweet little Amity girl for my parents. The only reason I could even do it was because I knew one day I would leave." Daniel stays still. I walk around him until my face in only inches away from his. I close the space between us and kiss him. After a moment, he kisses me back, but not gently like our first kiss was. No, right now, Daniel is letting go of Lizzie. He is forgetting that little girl, the one who would cringe at the thought of a fight, and accepted Ellie. I could feel his love for the old me fade away and reawaken as a new spark. "I love you, Ellie." He says against my lips. I pull away and take his face in my hands. "I love you too, Daniel." His eyes seem to glow and he pulls me back towards him.

The next day, when we enter the training room, my heart sinks as I look at the board. Hailey and I look at each other. "I have to fight you?" She asks. "Just perfect." I sigh. Daniel is up against Ryan, but Hailey and I are going first. We step into the ring. "Make it quick." She whispers. I offer her a reassuring smile, and then it's over. I throw a punch. Not a hard one, but hard enough that this fight will be real. It slams into Hailey's jaw, and I sweep her legs from under her. She falls backwards, lands on her head, and the fight is over. I pick her up and put my arm around her back and under her arm and help her out of the ring.

As Daniel and I sit on my bed watching Hailey as she sleeps that day before dinner, I lean my head against his shoulder. "I feel bad, Daniel." I say softly. "I should've let her win, or at least given her a chance to look good in front of Kevin." A single tear drops down my face. "I just wanted to knock her out as soon as possible so she wouldn't have to go through it." Daniel has one arm around me and the other one is locked in a death grip in my hand as I silently cry. "I don't know why she chose Dauntless." I whisper. "It's not like she doesn't have potential for it; she could be great. It's just…she's so…vulnerable looking." Daniel kisses my forehead. "Maybe that's why she chose Dauntless, because she looks so vulnerable, and she doesn't want to."


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, we are surprised to walk into the training room and see Jay standing at a table covered in knives. "Everybody come up and grab some knives, then choose a target. We're throwing knives today." I walk up to the table and grab some knives. Daniel, Hailey, and I choose the targets at the end. Hailey seems to have forgiven me for beating her up the day before, but she seems…different somehow, and the guilt still rips through me. I guess it's a good thing; it means I have a conscious.

Jay stands across from his target and demonstrates how to throw the knives. I watch his position as he steps forward to release each knife, and how his hand moves as it throws them. "Alright, now it's your turn." It's only when he turns away that I notice Kevin standing in the corner of the room, watching us silently.

I copy Jay's position as I throw each knife. The first few miss, but after a while it starts hitting the target, and after a few rounds of knives, I've gotten one knife in the bulls-eye. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" I smile at Daniel, who, of course, is doing far better than I am, but my smile fades as I see Hailey's target. She hasn't gotten a single knife to hit the board. I turn away from her and continue throwing my knives, but then Hailey lets out a muffled shriek and I hear a loud _thunk_.

I turn towards Hailey and see her holding her arm. There is a gash on her upper arm. It isn't deep, but it also isn't just a scratch. I look behind her and see Kevin all the way on the other side of the room, twirling some knives in his hand. "What's _wrong _with you?" He yells as he approaches Hailey. "You haven't gotten a single knife on the board!" Somehow, I know that he cut her on purpose. "Stop yelling at her!" I stomp my way to Hailey and stand beside her, crossing my arms. "Not everyone is a natural at everything. Some things take practice." Kevin glares at me. For a moment, I'm afraid that I have made a grave mistake, and this will get me kicked out of Dauntless, but then he just smiles, and I know that what comes next can't possibly be good. "Well, Ellie, it's seems that you're a natural at this, since you've done much better than your little friend here. Why don't we test your skill? Hailey, go stand in front of the target." Hailey is frozen for a moment, but then Kevin yells, "Now!" and Hailey scrambles her way to the target. Kevin shoves three knives into my hand. "I want you to throw those knives at her. All three have to hit the target, or else it will be you up there next, understand?" I look at Kevin. "No, I won't throw knives at my friend." He narrows his eyes. "Why not? Are you afraid?" I glare at him. "Of stabbing my best friend with a knife? Yes, I am afraid!" The moment I say it, I know I will regret it. "Fine, then." He spits. "Daniel, take Hailey's place at the board." Daniel does it without a fight. He and Hailey exchange a few words. It looks like Hailey is asking Daniel not to take her place, but in the end Hailey walks away. "I'm going to give you an option. Either you throw all three of those knives at your boyfriend there and hope he lives, or I will, and I promise you, I always hit the center of the target." I look into his eyes and I can see that he is telling the truth. Either I take a risk by throwing the knives at Daniel, or Kevin kills him. I take a deep breath and turn towards the target. I look at Daniel, still undecided. "Go ahead, Ellie." He says softly. "I believe in you." He smiles softly. I pick up the first knife and position myself. I take a deep breath and let the knife fly. It hits the target, a good amount of inches away from Daniel's face. I take a deep breath and let loose the next knife. It hits a little closer, but still far enough away from him to give him wiggle room. As I pick up the third knife, Kevin says, "Stop being so cautious. Nick him." I look at my knife and to Daniel, then down to arm. I take a deep breath and throw the knife. It hits right on the spot, giving Daniel a shallow cut to his arm. I sigh in relief and Daniel walks over to me. He gives me a quick kiss then rests his forehead against mine. "I knew you could do it." He whispers softly.


	7. Chapter 7

Afterwards, Hailey and I stuck around. I was going to help Hailey a little. I asked Daniel if he wanted to stay, but he said he had something to do. So Hailey and I stand across from each other in the ring in our fighting positions as I give her tips. "Remember to use your speed to your advantage. Before you go into a fight, observe your opponent, and figure out there weak spots. When I fought Julia, I had to let her hit me once so I could look for clues. Before she punches, you can see her shift her weight to the opposite foot, like this." I shift my weight to my left foot and send out a punch, but Hailey dodges to the side. "Good," I say, "but now you have to work on countering that attack." I go across from her. "Punch me." Hailey sends me a punch. She steps before she punches, so I see it coming. I dodge to the side and slam my elbow into her back. The momentum from her punch sends her to the floor. I help her up. "See? People like us aren't strong enough to knock someone down on their own, so we need to use our opponent's strength against them." Before she could say something, I throw a punch. She dodges to the side and tries the same move I did, but I see it coming. I turn around and grab her elbow, pulling her down. I catch her before she falls. "You can't reuse moves, though, because they will learn to expect it. You need to trick your opponent." I stand across from her. "Punch me." I say. Hailey steps with her left foot, which is my indicator that she's going to throw a punch with her right arm. I dodge out to the left, only to notice a little too late that she never threw the punch. Instead, her left fist slams into my jaw, flinging my head back. "Nice!" I yell, but the fight is not over yet. I get back on track and we circle each other. I throw her a punch, but she dodges it. I see her shift her elbow to hit my back, and I twist and swing my legs out. She doesn't expect it and she goes sprawling onto the floor. I swing my leg back and kick her-but I stop short, only tapping her in the head instead of a full-on-blow. I reach down and help her to her feet, expecting the fight to be over, but once she's up, she grips my arm tight and swings a punch at my face. My cheeks burn from the punch and I wrench my arm free. I step forward, faking a punch, and when she dodges, I punch her hard in the stomach. Our little practice match has turned into a full-on brawl. As she doubles over, I swing my legs out to trip her, but she anticipates the move. She jumps out of the way and sends me a punch. Instead of dodging, I throw up my forearm to deflect the blow. My forearm stings, but I missed the full force of it. I use my other hand to grab her arm and I pull her towards me. I slam my elbow into her back, sending her sprawling out on the floor. "Alright, Hailey, we're done." She sits up and smiles at me. We're going to be very sore tonight, but at least she's doing better.

The next day, when we walk into the training room, we look at the matchups. I'm up against Ryan, Daniel is against Julia, and Hailey is against Mark. Brianna gets the day off. Right before Hailey enters the ring, I whisper to her. "Don't look too sure of yourself. Look nervous so he will let his guard down, and then hit him with all you've got." She smiles at me, and I smile back. As Hailey enters the ring, she nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. "Oh, it's little Hailey. I'll go easy on you if you ask me." He's taunting her. Her cheeks burn red. They circle each other until Mark throws a punch. Hailey bounces out of the way. She slams her elbow into his back, but Mark doesn't fall. He stumbles a little, but he stays up. He turns around and he's furious. "Oh, you're on." He throws another punch, and this time Hailey throws up her forearm to block it. She grabs his forearm with her other hand and punches him in the face, hard, while his hand is trapped in her grip. She releases him as he stumbles back. She swings her legs at his and he falls to the ground. He groans, but doesn't get up.

Then it's my turn. I pass Hailey as she exits the ring. "Nice job, Hailey. You sure showed him." She just grins at me. "Thanks, Ellie." I can see her appreciation in her eyes. I glance over at Kevin. He seems fairly surprised. I smirk as I enter the ring. Ryan and I circle each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. In the end, I do. I throw a punch to his face. Ryan dodges it, which surprises me. Ryan normally blocks all of the blows sent at him. I'll have to change my strategy. I throw another punch, and Ryan dodges it again, but this time I swing out my leg to his and Ryan, who is still unbalanced from dodging, trips and falls onto his back. As I go to kick him, he grabs my leg and pulls be down. I hit the ground with a _thump. _Ryan and I jump to our feet, both of us furious as we circle each other. I take deep breaths and try to calm my anger. Fighting angry won't do me any good. It will only make me sloppy, but Ryan doesn't seem to think the same. He throws a punch but I deflect it with my forearm. I grab his arm with my other arm and punch him hard in the face while his hands are occupied. As his head jerks back from the blow, I kick him hard in the stomach. He doubles over and I punch him one last time in the face. He finally falls over to the ground, but he won't give up. He tries to get up, but I won't let him. I kick him until he falls unconscious.

As I walk out of the ring, I pass Daniel. I give him a quick kiss. "Good luck." I whisper. He just grimaces at me; I know he hates these fights. Daniel and Julia's fight doesn't last long. Daniel has her on the ground and unconscious in only a minute.

As we all go to leave, Hailey pulls me aside. Daniel once again goes off on his own somewhere as Hailey and I stick around the training room. "Ellie, thanks a lot for helping me with my fighting. I can't believe I actually beat Mark!" I clap her on the back. "What do you expect? With a tutor like me, you'll be a pro in no time!" Hailey grins. "About that…do you think you could help me with my aim?"


	8. Chapter 8

So Hailey and I spent the next few hours before dinner throwing knives. We stayed away from the guns, since I didn't think we should touch the guns without permission. "Alright, so what you want to do is stand like this. Copy my position. Whenever Jay shows us something new, he demonstrates it a few times. Each time he demonstrates, observe a different part of his position. I always start with the stance, and then finally the hand and arm movement." I pick up a knife and hurl it at the target. It hits the target. Not in the center, but it's also not all the way on the edge. "I'll get better." I say, mostly to myself, but Hailey laughs. I throw a few more for demonstration, and then Hailey starts too. I try to help her through the motion, but since I'm not that good at it myself, I'm not the best teacher.

"You two really shouldn't be using those knives without supervision." Hailey and I turn around to see Jay approaching us. "But if you're using them anyway, you might as well use them correctly." He approaches me. "Throw one of the knives." I pick up a knife and hurl it at the target. It hits a little too far to the left of the center, like it always does. I let out a frustrated groan. "Here," Jay says quietly, "when you release, you don't follow through. You need to keep your hand straight after you've thrown it. Watch," Jay picks up a knife and hurls it at the target. After he releases the knife, his position doesn't waver. Only when he hears the _thunk _of the knife hitting the target does he relax. "As for you," he turns to Hailey, "You're position isn't tight enough. You are very loose, causing your aim to go all haywire." Jay backs up a bit and looks at us. "Now try." We pick up our knives and throw them at the board. I keep my hand and position straight after I release the knife, and the knife cuts right into the center of the target. I let out a whoop of joy and look to Hailey's target. Her knife didn't hit the bulls-eye, but she got pretty damn close. She grins at me. "Nice!" I turn to Jay. "Thanks, Jay." He looks at me for a moment before responding. "You're welcome." He turns and walks out of the room.

Hailey and I practice for a little longer until we hit the bulls-eye nearly every time. By then Daniel pops in. "Dinner time." He says, and we walk out with him.

"There are three days left of stage one. Each day you will be assessed on each skill we have learned, starting with shooting." We each grab a gun from the table and head to our targets. I aim my gun at the target and shoot. The bullet rips through the center of the target. I glance over at Hailey and Daniel and I see both of them have the same results. We grin at each other and continue shooting.

As I walk up to the table to get more ammo, I notice Jay watching me. As a matter of fact, it seems he's been watching me a lot lately. I ignore it as I reload my gun and head back to my target. We shoot for a little while longer until Kevin tells us to go. Hailey and I stay behind again to practice sparring. Today, Daniel stays with us.

"I want to see you guys spar." He says. Hailey and I shrug and start circling each other. Hailey throws the first punch. I dodge out of the way, but she has already thrown another punch. I deflect the blow and grab her hand with my arm. I punch her hard in the face. We stopped being gentle with each other when Hailey got angry at me, saying we needed to know how to fight against someone who wouldn't hesitate to hurt us. Hailey tries to stumble back, but I'm still gripping her arm. I swing my leg at hers, causing her to trip and fall. Well, she would've fallen if I didn't still have my hand on her arm. I pull my hand back and punch her once more before dropping her, lightly, onto the ground. I wait three seconds and then help her to her feet. We agreed to give each other three seconds to get back onto their feet if they get knocked over, and if we don't get up, the match is done. "Not bad." Daniel says, "But you should try practicing with someone else." He steps into the ring. "Hailey, sit out for this round." Hailey nods and sits on the floor and watches us.

Daniel and I circle each other. Daniel throws the first punch, but I dodge to the side. I throw a punch at his face, but he deflects my punch with his arm. He grabs my arm and goes to throw a punch. I swing my head out of the way of his punch and grab his arm with my other hand. We are now locked in a fight of sheer power. We each wrestle with the other to free our hand, but neither of us will give up. I swing my leg at his, and he falls backwards, finally releasing my arm. I grab his arms at the last second before he hits the ground and gently place him down. I wait three seconds before helping him to his feet.

This time, I sit out as Daniel and Hailey spar. Daniel throws the first punch, expecting Hailey to dodge out of the way, but instead she deflects the blow and uses the momentum from Daniels punch to pull him to the ground. Daniel falls on his stomach. Hailey puts one foot on his back and makes as to punch him to the back of his head, but when her fist connects with his head, it just taps his head lightly. She steps off of him and helps him to his feet. "Well, I think it's time to stop."


	9. Chapter 9

Today we show off our knife throwing skills to Kevin. We all hurl our knives to our targets. My knives hit the center almost every time, and I'm pleased to see the same results with Hailey and Daniel. Even if Daniel and I are still better than Hailey, she is now better than everyone else. The three of us are the top of the class.

That afternoon, we don't spar. Tomorrow Kevin will evaluate our fighting abilities, and we don't want to be sore. Instead, we all sit around the chasm, watching the water hit the rocks. "Sometimes," I start, "I try to imagine what my life would be like if I had stayed in Amity." Hailey leans back against the rocks. "I would've failed Erudite initiation." She says simply. "At the end, you take a test, and if you don't score high enough on it, they basically tell you to either live the rest of your life cleaning the science labs, or to go and join the factionless." I shudder. "Amity initiation isn't as hard as Dauntless." I say. "You have to pick the apples in the orchard for a few days and then learn and sing songs with each other. That's it." Daniel wraps his arm around me and pulls me close. "Yeah, who would want to sing and pick apples when you can beat each other to a pulp?" He says it with humor but I can tell, in some way, he means his words. Hailey gets up. "Well, I'm going back to the room to nap before dinner." We say goodbye to her, and then it's just Daniel and me.

I sit in Daniel's lap and lean my head against his shoulder. "I just want this to be over." He whispers. I turn to him. "Me too," I sigh, "but we still have stages two and three left." Daniel turns his head to mine. "Then we'll just have to be ready." And he kisses me.

As we walk into the training room, we look at our match-ups. Since we have an odd number of kids, one of us has to fight against Jay, and guess who that lucky someone is. "They're putting you against _Jay_?" Daniel gasps as we stare at the board. "I guess." I sigh. "I'll just have to do my best." Jay and I are fighting first, so I step into the ring. Jay is already there, leaning against the railing. "This is the last day of testing," Kevin says. "Today you are partnered up against someone who is at what we believe to be your level, with the exception of Ellie." I scowl as Kevin turns to Jay. "Don't go too easy on her." Then it's time.

Jay and I circle each other. Jay throws a punch, but I dodge to the side. He was expecting that. He throws another punch to my new location, and my head whips back. I turn back to him just in time to see another punch heading my way. I deflect the blow, leaving my forearm stinging, and grab his arm. I punch him as hard as I can in the face. As his head jerks back, I trip him, and he falls backwards. He jumps up before I can kick him. I throw a punch but he grabs my arm and pulls me down to the ground. I land hard on my back. I watch as he goes to kick me, but I grab his leg and pull, causing him to fall on his back. We both jump to our feet and circle each other. I steal a glance over a Kevin and see he is fairly surprised that I have made it this long. My heart sinks as Jay throws a punch. I deflect the blow and punch him in the face. I refuse to let him beat me without putting up a fight. His head jerks back and I punch him in the gut. He doubles over and I punch him one more time in the head. Jay falls backwards and doesn't get back up.

As Jay stirs, Kevin grins. "Well done, Ellie." He steps in and looks down at Jay. "Looks like someone was going a little too easy." He offers Jay and hand and Jay gets to his feet. "Nah," Jay says with a grin, "she's pretty good." I grin as I walk back over to Daniel and Hailey. Daniel gives me a kiss. "Congrats, Ellie." He says softly. I grin and look back over to Jay. He isn't grinning anymore.

Daniel's fight is next. He's up against Ryan. Even though Ryan is good, Daniel is still better, and the fight is over soon. Then it's Mark and Julia's turn. The fight ends with Julia on the ground, and finally, Hailey and Brianna are up. I grab Hailey's arm before she steps in. "You got this, Hailey, just remember our spars." Hailey grins at me and then she's in the ring.

Hailey and Brianna circle each other. Brianna throws the first punch. Hailey deflects the blow, punching Brianna hard in the jaw. Brianna throws another punch, and Hailey deflects it, punching Brianna again, the same way. I start to get nervous. Why is she doing the same thing? I only realize why as Brianna throws her next punch. Brianna has her other arm ready to deflect a blow from Hailey, so when Hailey dodges and jams her elbow into Brianna's back, Brianna is surprised. Hailey trips Brianna, and Brianna falls to the floor. Hailey kicks Brianna, over and over again, until she is unconscious. As Hailey walks back to me, I can see a glint of revenge in her eyes. This was for the comment Brianna made about Hailey when they first fought. My heart sinks. Hailey was turning into a Dauntless monster.

That night, we all celebrate the end of stage one. Tonight when we get back from dinner, the rankings will be posted.


	10. Chapter 10

As we head back to the room, nerves fly around my stomach. Where did I rank? Where did Hailey and Daniel rank? Only one way to find out.

As we enter the room, I gasp. The list is posted on the far wall.

**1) Daniel**

**2) Ellie**

**3) Hailey**

**4) Ryan**

**5) Mark**

**6) Brianna**

**7) Julia**

I stare at my name on the list. We all ranked on the top. Hailey pulls me into a fierce hug. "Thank you so much, Ellie! Without you, I'd be all the way on the bottom!" The rest of them glare at us, especially Ryan. He wanted to be first, and he won't be happy.

The next day, our parents come to visit us. Daniel, Hailey, and I lean against the walls of the pit and look around for our parents. We doubt they will come, but we are hopeful. I'm wearing a shirt that exposes my tattoos. The birds on my collar bone and the faction symbols on my shoulder. Only the top of the Dauntless symbol is visible with my shirt, but it's good enough for me. My long blond hair is up in a high ponytail. If my parents do come, I want them to see that I am different now.

After a while, Hailey gives a shriek and runs off. I watch as she collides with another girl who looks just like her. "Twins." Daniel says, stunned. "She has a twin." Hailey pulls her family over to meet Daniel and me. "This is Ellie and Daniel. They both came from Amity. Ellie is the only reason I'm doing so well in initiation." I look at her with shock on my face. "They know about Dauntless initiation?" Hailey nods. "My mother and father both came from Dauntless." Hailey's mother extends her hand. "Nice to meet you, Ellie, and thank you for helping Hailey." I shake her hand. "You're welcome." I'm about to say something when something catches my eye. I see a boy, a few years older than me, wearing Erudite blue, making his way through the crowd. "Excuse me." I mutter. I run to the boy. He turns and sees me and his face lights up in a smile. I give him a big hug. "It's good to see you, Elizabeth." Nick says as he releases me. I wipe away a tear. "I go by Ellie now, actually." Nick takes in my appearance with a frown. "Tattoos? You got tattoos?" I cross my arms. "Do you have a problem with that?" He just shrugs. "I never understood the idea of tattoos. It's just ink in your skin. It's illogical." I just chuckle. "Spoken like a true Erudite, Nick." Nick gives me a look. "Nicholas. Nicknames are illogical." I glare at him, but Nick just grins. "Anyway, I didn't just come here to say hi, I came for a reason." I look up in surprise. "What is it?" Nick looks around. "Is there anywhere we can go to be alone?" I nod and start to pull him into a hallway when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and see Daniel and Hailey. "Oh, right." I say. "Hailey, this is Nick, my brother. Daniel, you already know Nick." Daniel steps next to me and gives me a quick kiss. I think he wants to let Nick know we are dating without saying it. "Nice to meet you all, but I need to talk to Elizabeth about something." He starts to pull me away but Hailey interrupts him. "Hold on a minute-Elizabeth? Your real name is _Elizabeth_?" I look at her. "Yes," I say simply, "but I went by Lizzie." Hailey looks dumbfounded for a moment, but then she breaks out into a grin. I smile back at her as Nick leads me away and into the empty hallway.

"Alright, Elizabeth, I need to know something." Nick looks at me very seriously. "What did you get on your aptitude test?" His question surprises me. Why would Nick care? "Why?" I respond. Nick just growls in frustration. "Because, it's important! What did you get?" I look at Nick. He's my brother; I can trust him with anything, right? "My results were inconclusive." I whisper. Nick beckons to me to continue. "I got Dauntless, Erudite, and Abnegation." Nick sighs. "I suspected as much." He grips my shoulders. "Listen, Elizabeth, what you are is dangerous. You have to do whatever you can to make it seem like you fit in. Your files say you got Dauntless on your aptitude test, so you have to act that way, understand?" I nod. "I've been watching the Dauntless. They have a record of people who mysteriously kill themselves, and all of them are…like you. They don't suspect you, but Daniel…Daniel is another case." My heart sinks. "What do you mean? Daniel isn't like me." Nick gives me a look. "I'm not stupid, Elizabeth, that's why I'm Erudite. If they're watching him, then that means they have reason to suspect that he is like you. Stage two is when they tend to find out who it is. Just…please, be careful." I nod. "I promise, Nick, I will." Nick nods.


	11. Chapter 11

"Stage two of initiation is entirely mental." Jay says to us. "Every day you will be put into one of your worst fears. You will not be aware of the fact that you are in a simulation, and you will stay in until you have either calmed down or been able to somehow go against your fear." Jay scans the crowd. I notice his eyes pause for a fleeting moment on me before he continues. He stops at Daniel. "You will go in order of the standing from last time, meaning Daniel is first." I give Daniel a quick kiss. "Good luck, Danny." I whisper. He gives me a small smile and walks up to Jay. Jay is looking away from us. Jay and Daniel disappear into the room.

"What fears do you think you'll face?" Hailey bounds up beside me. "I don't know." I say, and it's true. I've never really thought hard about what I fear. "Well, I am _not _looking forward to this." Hailey gives me a look. "Spiders, _yuck_." I giggle with her. "So you really have no idea what you might face?" I think about it. "Maybe kidnapping, or sharks, or," I grin a little, "a rollercoaster ride." "_What?_" Hailey is staring at me. "Are you serious?" I chuckle. "Completely; roller coasters scare the crap out of me." "Aww, is brave little Ellie afraid of a roller coaster?" Ryan jeers at me. Mark and Brianna laugh along with Ryan. I turn away from him and ignore him. "Look at that! She's too much of a coward to face me!" I'm in front of his face in a blink of an eye. I swing a fist at his jaw. He grunts as my punch hits him. I walk back to Hailey. I'm ready for him to attack me when Jay opens the door. He reads the situation quickly and his eyes harden. When he speaks, his voice is rough. "Ellie, you're up."

I walk in and take in my surroundings. It looks almost exactly as the room for the aptitude test had looked. "Take a seat, Ellie." His voice is much softer, more relaxing, than it was before. I sit back in the chair as Jay prepares me for the simulation.

I open my eyes and immediately panic grips my heart.

Sharks.

I'm in the middle of a shark tank. There's one shark swimming around. It hasn't noticed me yet. I look outside the tank. Everyone is there, laughing at me. Ryan, Julia, Mark, and Brianna are all smirking at me. Kevin and Jay look at me with content, but the worst is Daniel and Hailey. They're holding hands. It's almost as if they notice me watching, because Daniel takes Hailey's face in his hands and kisses her, just as he's kissed me. I take a deep breath only to stop mid-breath. I can't breathe underwater!

And then I slap myself, because I just took a breath underwater. Logic tells me this is impossible and I tell logic to go **** itself, because what's the point of thinking logically in a place with no logic? So I take a deep breath and remember what Jay had said. "We are only in this until we either calm down or go against the fear-whatever the hell that means." And it's only after I've said it that I realize that the shark heard me.

I know I should try to run, but it's useless, because firstly, it's a shark, it's faster than I am, and secondly, have you ever _tried _running underwater? It's ****ing impossible. So I turn back to it, my heart beating frantically against my chest. The shark is swimming towards me as fast as it can I squeeze my eyes shut and I think, _why can't this shark be friendly?_

I feel something nuzzling against me. I open my eyes and the shark is swimming around me, but all signs of hostility are gone. I reach out and pet the shark, only to realize what I'm doing. I'm _petting a shark_, and it's not even a _real _shark! It's just something created by the simulation!

And then I remember Jay's words. _You will not be aware of the fact that you are in a simulation. _So how the hell do _I _know that I am?

I jerk out of the chair, my eyes wild. Jay is glaring at me. "How the hell did you do that?" He growls. I flinch. "Do what?" I ask. Jay just gives me look. "Sharks don't just randomly decide to become your best friend." It's silent for a moment until I realize that he wants an answer. "I don't know," I say, "I just imagined it being friendly and it was." Jay gives me a long look, and then he sighs. "You're divergent." I feign confusion. "What's divergent?" He just glares at me. "You can't fool me, Ellie. Only someone who is divergent can alter a simulation." His eyes soften. "You can trust me, Ellie; I'm the only one who can help you." I glare at him. "Why would you? You're my trainer, you shouldn't be helping me, you should be challenging me, trying to find my weaknesses!" Jay just looks at me. "I don't have any interest in doing that you." I just lean back and sigh with my eyes closed. "Ellie," he say again, his voice soft. I sigh and open my eyes. "Yes," I say softly, "I'm divergent." I search his face. He doesn't seem surprised. Something flickers across his face. Was that…relief? But it's gone too fast for me to know. "Ellie, being divergent is very dangerous. You have to learn to hide it. Practice facing your fears like you did, by altering the tests, but take your time. Don't aim to be the best this time. Save that for your fear landscape. That's stage three. It's all of your fears, back to back, but everyone is aware. You'll have a head start because you'll already know what to do." I nod at him. "Thanks, Jay." Jay just nods at me as I walk out of the room.


	12. Chapter 12

We do this every day. Stage two is 10 days long, they tell us. Its day four when I notice something frightening: Kevin is watching Daniel, closely. "Daniel, you seem to be doing very well. Mind if I watch today?" Daniel just smiles. "Of course not, Kevin." But an icy fist grips my heart, and I can't keep the worry out of my heart.

That day, when I went into my fear, I wasn't surprised to see Daniel in it. I am given a gun and a choice. In front of me are three people. Daniel is on the left, all alone, and my parents are standing together on the right. A man is pointing a gun at my head. "Choose a group, and shoot them." I'm not surprised to hear the voice of Ryan. I remember Jay's advice and I take my time. I already know what I'm going to do. "Quickly, Ellie, or I will kill all of them." Enough time has passed. "You know, Ryan," I start, "no matter how strong you claim to be," I smirk a little. I start over. "No matter how strong you claim to be, you can't kill someone with a banana." I turn to face him and it's no longer a gun he has pointed at my head; it's a banana.

I open my eyes to laughter. I look over at Jay. He's laughing, his head thrown back, his eyes crinkled, and he looks at me. "That, what you just did right there?" Jay laughs again. "That was ****ing _brilliant_." I grin and chuckle. "Oh man, if only Ryan knew about this, he'd shit a brick." I laugh along with him. I glance back to him before I walk out and I'm caught off guard when I see his face lined with worry. I stumble out the door and wonder. Did I do something wrong?

I only figure out what he was so worried about later that night. Much later, in fact. We all walked back into our room and went to our beds. "Goodnight, Ellie." Daniel whispers to me. I hold his face in my hand and give him a long kiss." "I love you, Daniel." Daniel rests his forehead against mine. "I love you, too."

I'm glad now that I said that to him; that I was able to tell him how I felt about him one last time.

"Ellie! Oh god, Ellie! Wake up!" I jerk up and see Hailey's tear-streaked face above mine. I jump out of bed, glad to be fully clothed. "What is it, Hailey? What's wrong?" She sniffles. "It's Daniel."

I've suddenly forgotten her. I run out of the room and into the pit. They're heaving something out of the chasm. It's shaped like a body. My blood runs cold. The body drops to the floor, and then I can truly see that my worst nightmares have come true. Daniel is dead.

"No! Daniel!" I rush forward. I jerk out of Hailey's arms as she tries to keep me contained. I run to Daniel's lifeless body. I fall to my knees beside him and hold his face in my hands. "Daniel…Oh, this is my fault! If I hadn't picked Dauntless, this wouldn't have happened to you!" Silent tears fall down my face. "I love you, Daniel. I love you now and I'll love you forever." I'm speaking so softly I can barely hear myself.

I take a deep breath and stand up. My legs feel like jelly, but Hailey is at my side, a protective arm around my shoulders. I lean into her. "This death was tragic, yes. We lost a very promising initiate today, but by taking his own life, he's started a new journey, and I have no doubt he will use all of his bravery to explore his new life." Kevin murmurs something to the people near him and they go to collect his body. I take a deep breath and force the tears out of my eyes as I watch them take him away. "I love you." I mutter one last time until Daniel is gone to me forever.

I open my eyes as my mind leaves the world of my fear. Daniel was in it again, but it was different than before. I had to watch as Daniel was pushed over the edge of the chasm, as I'm sure he was. The Dauntless leaders figured him out. They figured out that he was divergent, and they killed him.

I will kill them for it.


	13. Chapter 13

"Ellie, are you okay?" I look at Jay. His eyes are filled with worry. "What do you mean?" I ask, a little too harshly, but my voice cracks. I look away. "Ellie," he says softly, "Daniel was a great kid. He could have gone on to do great things." I still don't look at him. I feel Jay's hand on my shoulder. "I want you to know, Ellie, that I don't agree with the Dauntless leaders." Finally I look up and into his eyes. They are sincere. "They figured him out. They saw he was divergent, and they took him out." I stiffen as I realize something. "Because he wasn't hiding his divergence." I say. I look into his eyes, but my gaze is angry. "You warned me. You told me to cover it up, but you gave Daniel no warning, didn't you?" I ask. Jay looks away and doesn't answer. "Didn't you?" I repeat. Finally he looks at me. "I did," he says softly, "but Daniel told me that he didn't want to hide it." I look at Jay, all my anger dissolved into shock. "What?" I ask. "Daniel said that if the Dauntless leaders caught him being divergent, they wouldn't pay attention to you." I feel my heart break, just a little. Daniel died protecting me. "He was brave, Daniel." Jay says softly, turning me to face him. "Even if he didn't pass initiation, he was braver than any Dauntless man I ever knew." And then I finally break down. Tears start streaming down my cheeks and I'm surprised when Jay pulls me in for a hug. I'm even more surprised when I wrap my arms around him and cling on.

Afterwards, I sit alone on my bed, my arms crossed behind my head, and I think. I remember how Daniel said he was going to join Abnegation, but he decided to come to Dauntless to be with me. Both a selfless move, because then I wouldn't be lonely, and a selfish one, because then he would be with me like he wanted, but also…brave. It was a brave move choosing Dauntless on my part, but I actually had aptitude for it. Daniel didn't. Abnegation and Candor, he had said, but I disagree. I would add Dauntless into the mix.

"Get off of your lazy butt and stop mopping!" I look up to see Hailey grinning at me. "Come on, let's go walk around. It doesn't do you good to sit around here." I sit up silently and follow her out. "Anywhere in particular you want to go?" She asks me. "Yes," I say with confidence, "the tattoo shop."

The sting in my shoulder from the tattoo helps keep my mind from wandering off. I wanted to get something to remind me of Daniel. I got the Abnegation symbol on my left shoulder blade, big and bold. I take a deep breath and smile as I allow myself one final second of grieving before I tell myself to move on. I open my eyes and listen to the soft breathing of the other initiates as they sleep. I roll onto my side and join them in slumber.

I sit in a roller coaster. I'm in the front seat, all alone. We're chugging up a hill very slowly. The hill goes up so high and it's so real I almost forget I'm in a simulation. I know, I know, it's lame. Out of all of my fears that I could possibly have a panic attack over, it's got to be the roller coaster. I take deep breaths and force myself to think. How could I fix this? I close my eyes. _We aren't going up. We're going straight._ I open my eyes and, sure enough, we're chugging along the tracks, never going up or down, and I finally feel my panic start to subside.

When I open my eyes, Jay is hysterical. He can't contain himself. He's laughing so hard he's almost falling out of the chair. "Stop laughing at me!" I slap him lightly in the arm. He grins. "Sorry, sorry, it's just…roller coasters?" I nearly slap him. "_Yes_, okay? I'm afraid of roller coasters! They're always bumping around and one day you just _know _it's going to collapse!" Jay just grins at me.


	14. Chapter 14

"EVERYBODY UP."

I nearly fall out of bed at the voice of Kevin. We're all watching him. Jay is at his side, looking bored, but I can see him glancing over at me, and trying to hide it. "We're going out! The Dauntless-born initiates are going to join us." We all quickly change into more suitable clothing and race after him.

We run out to the train tracks. I jog alongside the train and laugh at how hard this was when I first tried. I jump up and into the cart with ease. The rest of the initiates, Dauntless-born and transfers, pile in. Hailey and I sit shoulder-to-shoulder on the back wall. Jay, Kevin, and a woman who looks oddly familiar to me stand across from us.

I gasp as I realize who the woman is. "Megan?" I ask, the shock on my face clear. Megan had been my neighbor my entire life. She was two years older than me. Megan's head whips up as I call out her name. "What?" Her face softens into a smile as she recognizes me. "Well well, Elizabeth Heather, I never thought you would join Dauntless." I look at her. "I could say the same thing about you. We were all shocked when you left." I grin. "I actually go by Ellie now." I hear snickers behind me. "Elizabeth? That's such a stupid name." I turn and see Brianna sneering at me. I ignore her.

Kevin clears his throat and all the talking stops. "We're going to play capture the flag. Everyone will be given a paintball gun. We will divide into two teams. Megan and I will lead one team, and Jay will lead the other." Jay glances at Kevin. "You guys pick first." Kevin grins and looks out at us. "Isaiah," he calls out. A Dauntless boy goes to stand beside Kevin. I can see why Kevin picked him; he's very large. "Ellie." I look up at Jay in surprise. He's grinning at me. I stand up and make my way towards him. "Ryan." Ryan walks up to stand beside the Isaiah. "Hailey." Hailey bounds over to me and I grin at her. They continue to pick people until everyone is chosen. Kevin's team has nine kids on it, while we have 10 kids. Hailey, Julia, Mark, and I are the only transfers on the team. Everyone else is Dauntless-born.

Jay's team gets off first. We run down the slope until we stop in a small clearing. Everyone looks at Jay expectantly. He just shrugs. "This is all on you; I'm not allowed to intervene." Everyone starts talking at once. "We should just hide the flag in a tree and all go after them before they get time to hide their flag," shouts one Dauntless-born boy. "No, we should wait here for them to come to us," shouts another boy. The shouting goes back and forth, but we get nothing done. Anger starts to grow in me. What do they think they'll get done by bickering? "SHUT. UP." I yell. Everyone goes silent. "We're just losing time by arguing, and while we're sitting here doing nothing, with our flag completely exposed, the other time could be on their way here!" "Then what do you suggest?" Julia yells out, obviously trying to make a fool out of me. "We split into three groups. The first group stays here and guards the flag while the other two goes to find theirs. Once we've found them, the second group charges them as a distraction while the third group sneaks to the flag." Everyone seems impressed with my plan. "Alright, so who's in what group?" I look around. We have ten people, including Jay. I point at three people. They're all very intimidating, which will make our defenses look better. "You three stay here and guard the flag. Find somewhere good to hide it." They glance at each other and then back at me. I raise my eyebrow. "What are you waiting for?" They pick up the flag and scramble off to do their task. I point to three more people, Julia and Mark among them. "You three will attack them directly. Jay," I look over at him, "you go with them." "Shouldn't Jay be in the last group and go after the flag?" I look at Julia. "No," I say, "Because they will be looking for Jay. They will assume he will be offense, not defense, so if he isn't there, people will wonder where he is." Jay grins at me. "Hailey and I will go after the flag." I look over the group. They all nod their heads in agreement. I grin. "Let's go!"

We run through the woods, searching for Kevin's team. I'm at the front of the group, and Hailey's at the back. I hear footsteps coming up beside me. I turn to see Jay jogging beside me. "That was a nice plan you made there, Ellie." He grins at me. "How very Erudite of you." I can see the question in his eyes. He wants to know if Erudite was one of the factions I had aptitude for. I grin at him. "Oh yeah, can't you just see me in Erudite? Sitting in a lab all day, talking about science with my friends, talking on and on about how things work, that's the life!" Jay chuckles, but by the look in his eyes he gets the message. I got aptitude for Erudite, but I prefer it here.

Up ahead I could see Kevin's team. They decided to stay in the woods. They're all scattered about, as if waiting for an attack. I turn to my team. "Alright, go!" They charge. Jay grins at me as he leaves. Hailey and I back away to discuss where the other team's flag may be. "I don't see it, and they aren't defending something in particular." She whispers to me. I look back and shake my head. "No, they are, it's just not easy to see. Look," I point at the group. "It's hard to see now, but in the middle of everyone are a couple of trees. My bet is it's somewhere in one of those trees." Hailey grins as she sees it. "Great! But how do we get it?" I grin and look up. "We climb."

Hailey and I scale the trees until we are about 10 feet off the ground. I glance at her and nod my head. "Jump tree-to-tree, towards the middle. They'll never see us." So we crawl through the trees, jumping to the next one, until we're right above the fighting. I glance around, looking for their flag. I don't see anything, and I start to lose hope, until I notice a flash of red. I grin and scramble over to it, with Hailey at my side. We look at each other. "Let's grab it together." I nod and we both pick up the flag.

We climb down the tree until we're only five feet above the ground. Then we jump with a shout. "WOOO!" Everyone turns to us as we hold the flag above our heads. My team shouts and cheers while Kevin's team groans. Hailey and I grin at each other.

As we walk back to the trains, I'm still holding the flag in my hand. Hailey told me to take it. "It was your plan after all, so you should take it." She had said. Jay walks up beside me. "That was great, Ellie." I grin at him. "Thanks Jay." Jay puts one hand on my shoulder, startling me. "Daniel would be proud." He says softly. I take a deep breath. "I know he would," I say softly, "but I also know he would want me to move on with my life." I say, unaware of what comes out of my mouth. "He would want me to continue as if it had never happened. He would want me to make friends and have fun and find someone else to make me happy." I look up. The sky is dotted with stars. Jay turns me to him and I look into his eyes. For the first time since I've known him, there is uncertainty in his gaze. "Do you really think so?" He asks, his eyes searching mine. And I nod. "Yes," I say surely, "I know so." Jay must've seen the truth in my eyes, because suddenly he pulls me towards him and kisses me. I'm startled at first, but I melt into him. I kiss him back, and we stand there, for what feels like forever, until he pulls away. Everyone else is gone. "We should hurry before they see we're gone." I nod, but no words come out.

That night, as everyone else sleeps; I lie awake and think about what happened with Jay. I should've realized how he felt about me. He was always watching me, helping me, comforting me, and I like it, I realize. He's there for me when I'm at my weakest and just need some kind words, but he's also there when I'm at my strongest and need to feel proud. I guess I never had noticed what I felt towards him. I close my eyes and sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

It's day seven of stage two. We only have three more days until we face our fear landscape. I start repeating fears. I'm with sharks again today, but instead of making it friendly, I grin as a new though comes to mind. _You're seeing things wrong, Ellie. _I say to myself. _It's not a shark. It's a dolphin. _I look as the dolphin swims up to me. I grab on to it and it swims around.

I'm grinning as I open my eyes. Jay grins back. "Dolphin, nice, but not nearly as entertaining as the banana-gun." I laugh with him as I stand up. "What, do you enjoy watching me turn my fears into a comedy?" I tease. Jay stands up with me. "Every moment." But he's suddenly serious. We're staring at each other and I'm only thinking about last night. I have so many questions about last night but right now only one seems important. "Jay," I whisper, "why did you kiss me?" I look up at him. He looks back at me. "Because…" He needs to think for a moment before he answers. "Because I've been watching you, Ellie, and you're different from the others." He leans in. "Everyone else is Dauntless through-and-through, but you're not." He rests his forehead on mine. "They're all cold. They would sacrifice their friends before themselves, but not you." I look at him. "What about Hailey?" I ask, suddenly unsure of myself. Jay's gaze hardens. "Her, too." I look at him in surprise. There's hatred radiating from his eyes. "She puts up an illusion of innocence and sweetness, but I've seen inside her head. I've walked through her fears. She's worse than the rest of them." He glances down at me. "I'd stay away from her if I were you, or at least don't go anywhere alone with her." I shake my head. "I can't, Jay, she's all I have left." He's silent until I meet his gaze. "No," he says softly, resting his forehead on mine, "you have me." He kisses me and I kiss him back, unsure of everything. I'm unsure of Hailey and who she really is. I'm unsure of my safety with her and all that she knows about me. The only thing I'm sure about is Jay, who's here, with me, but even that could change.

The next two days go smoothly. I try to act normal around Hailey, and she doesn't suspect me, but I start to see the chips in her illusion. The brief hesitations before she responds, the way her smiles look forced, and now I start to think, why did she choose me, of all people, to become friends with? Was her weakness in the beginning all a ploy to win my trust? Or was she really weak, so she acted sweat and nice so I would take pity on her and help her? I'm not sure.

We just finished dinner on the last night of stage two, and we are heading back to our rooms. "The rankings are up! Oh, I can't wait to see them!" Hailey exclaims. "Me neither." I say and I grin at her. "Race you?" She giggles. "You're on!"

We run through the hallways until we burst into the rooms. The other initiates follow closely behind. I look at the list, in the same place the last one had gone.

**1) Ellie**

**2) Hailey**

**3) Julia**

**4) Ryan**

**5) Mark**

**6) Brianna**

I grin at Hailey. "Nice job, Hailey! Second!" She smiles. "Not as good as first!" She teases, but I can hear her jealousy.

I'm sleeping soundly until I feel someone shake my shoulders. I roll over to see Hailey standing over my bed. Her eyes look panicked. She gestures for me to follow her. I stand up to follow and while her back is turned I slip the knife that Jay gave me into the waistband of my pants. I follow her into the hallway. She weaves us through hallways, trying to get us as far away from everyone else as possible. Before, I would've thought this was to find a private place to talk, but now I'm unsure.

Finally she stops, but she doesn't turn to face me. "Hailey," I whisper, "what's wrong?" And suddenly her hand is over my mouth and I'm up against the wall. She's sneering at me. "Man, I knew I chose right when I became your friend." I glare at her. "I just needed to win someone's trust. It didn't matter who. You seemed like the easiest to convince." My eyes narrow and she laughs. "I wasn't lying at first, though; I really didn't know what I was doing. So I needed someone to teach me. You were more than willing, but I didn't think you'd be this hard to get rid of." She sighs. "I mean, I didn't want to kill you; I just wanted to be better than you. But Daniel was in my way to." She grins as she notices the way my eyes widen. "So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I knew he had to be divergent, he's too soft. He probably got Amity and Dauntless or something like that. So I just had to get Kevin curious. I only had to comment on how sweet and kind he was, and how brave and strong he was, and how good he was doing at stage two, and they bit the bait." I'm shaking now. I didn't want to hurt her, but it's too late. "I hoped that you would be broken at Daniel's death, but it seems to have only made you stronger, so now I need to take care of you." As she reaches behind her, I take the opportunity to pull away. She pulls out her knife and circles me. "I'm going to beat you, Ellie." She sneers. "If you surrender I'll kill you quickly." I narrow my eyes and tackle her. She jumps to the side and tries to trip me, but I anticipated that. I reach down and grab her leg as it swings towards me. I pull hard, unbalancing both of us. I fall on top of her, and she is momentarily paralyzed. I squeeze her wrist as hard as I can until she releases the knife. I pick it up and point it at her throat. She glares up at me with pure hatred. "Do it, then." She hisses. I pause. Could I really kill her? I look back down at her. If I don't, I doubt she'll try again. She knows better. So I release her and step back, placing the knife beside the other one. She scrambles to her feet and throws a punch at my face, but I still taught her, so it's easy to know what she'll do. I grab her arm and twist it behind her back, shoving her against the wall. "I wouldn't try to fight me, Hailey." I hiss. I step back and she turns towards me, accepting defeat, but her eyes still sparkle with hate. I pull out her knife. "Well, you were still too stupid to realize." She sneers. I smirk at her and raise and eyes brow. "Are you sure, Hailey? I mean, you must be right, because if I suspected something, I would've come with at least a knife, right?" That's when I reach behind me and pull out my knife, showing it to her. Her face falls and she gives me a glare of pure hatred. Satisfied, I follow her back to the rooms.

The next day, everyone heads up to a room we haven't been to yet. Jay and Megan lead the way. They stop in the middle and turn around. "This is where you will enter your fear landscape." Jay explains. "The only difference between your fear landscape and the simulations you've all been going through is that now you will be aware that you're in a simulation. Also, your fear landscape takes all of your fears and puts them into one simulation. You will be judged based on how long it takes you to go through your landscape." Someone yells out, "But that's not fair! What if someone else has 15 fears and someone else has five?" It was Hailey. Jay glares at her, the hate in his eyes obvious. I told him what happened earlier. "Why, Hailey," he begins, trying to keep himself from killing her on the spot, "are you _afraid _that the people here are braver than you?" He smirks. Hailey shuts her pie-hole.

Megan shoots a glare at Jay. "Anyway," she continues, "today you will all face one of my fears. You will go through confinement, heights, or drowning. You will get to see what it's like and learn how to get past a fear." She gives everyone a fear. I got heights.

As she's assigning fears, I hear someone come up beside me. I turn and see Julia. "What happened between you and Hailey?" She asks. I look down. "She's been acting…strange to me, recently. She's jealous." That's the best way to put it. Julia looks at me. "Me, too. Ryan and Mark have been giving my looks, and Brianna won't even talk to me. They're angry that I got better than them." We don't say anything else. We just stand there, side-by-side, and wait.

When it's my turn, I step forward. Jay starts setting up the simulation. "What just happened with you and Julia?" He asks softly. I just shrug. "Her friends are giving her grief for getting better than them." I say softly. He nods in understanding.

When I open my eyes, I'm standing on the top of a really high building. The wind is whipping against my face. I look down and can't help the stab of fear that flows through me. I'm hundreds of feet off the ground. Who wouldn't be terrified? But there's only one way to stop this. I have to jump. So I take a deep breath. I back up a few paces, and I leap off the edge.


	16. Chapter 16

I wipe my palms on my jeans. We're heading up to the fear landscape room. I take a few deep breathes. "It'll be fine. You don't have to hide yourself. Just do your best." I mutter under my breath. Jay walks up beside me. "Its fine, Ellie." I look at him. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You'll know that it's fake, and you know what to do." I just nod my head at him as we enter.

I walk into the room. Kevin is there with the serum in his hands. "Sit down there as I inject you. Your fear landscape will only take as long as you make it." I nod my head, my face betraying no fear as Kevin injects me.

I gasp as I open my eyes and look around. It's a familiar fear: shark tank.

I take a deep breath and do what I always do. The shark swims towards me. As he nears, I close my eyes and think. _What kinds of sharks aren't dangerous to humans? _I grin and open my eyes. "You won't harm me; you're just an Angel Shark." And the shark swims right past me as I let out a breath.

My next fear is once again expected. I find myself at the top of a roller coaster ride. I can almost hear Kevin cracking up at this one. I swallow my fear as I think of how I fight this one. I look to the side. The wooden supports are shaking in the wind. I look down. "It's not wood; it's metal. Iron." And as I open my eyes, my wish comes true. The iron supports don't shake, and I let out a shriek of delight as we roll down the coaster.

The next fear is one I haven't seen before. I curse myself as my heart speeds up. If anyone ever asked, I would deny it, but the truth is…I'm terrified of bugs.

I'm in a glass case. It's a cube. There are tubes on the floor of each wall. As the first stinkbug crawls out, I leap to the other side. I close my eyes. "It's a butterfly. Not stinkbugs; just butterflies." I open my eyes just as a beautiful monarch butterfly lands on my nose. I grin as butterflies swarm around me.

I find myself at the top of a building. Heights. Alright, this is an easy one. I take a shuttering breath as I back up. I run forward before I can convince myself not to and I leap over the edge. As I fall, I start to panic. Why didn't I go onto the next fear? I look down and see the concrete slowly rushing up towards me. I close my eyes. "Airbag! There's an airbag at the bottom!" And I keep my eyes shut tight as I hit the airbag with a sigh.

"Choose." I freeze at the voice. I knew this fear would be coming; I just didn't expect who, exactly, would be forcing me to kill the people I love. I guess I should've seen it coming. I look over my shoulder to see Hailey pointing a gun at my face. In my hand I'm holding one just like hers. I look at the people in front of me. In one group are my parents and Nick, like expected. I look over to the other group and its only member. Jay. He's standing there, watching me. It breaks my heart to notice Daniel's absence from the group. "Choose a group to shoot, or I'll kill all of them, and you." I can feel my anger burning inside of me. I know that she isn't real; I know that this isn't the real Hailey, but its close enough. I stand and point the gun in front of me, towards my family. Hailey smirks. "Oh, Ellie, what a great daughter you are. You'd rather kill your family than your boyfriend?" As she snickers, I whirl around to her, knocking the gun out of her grip. Before she can say anything, I shoot her in the head.

At first, I'm confused. What fear is this? I'm lying down somewhere. I can't see anything. I can feel something rattling beneath me as I lie there. But then my eyes bulge as I realize: I'm being kidnapped. I can't see anything because I'm in a bag. The rattling is a car. I notice that my hands and feet are also bound. I calm my racing heart and look around the bag for an opening. Right above my head is a tiny little hole. I need to make it bigger. _There is a knife right next to your right hand. _And sure enough, when I searched for it, there was a knife, sitting there very patiently, as if saying _what took you so long?_ So I grab the knife and free my hands. I do the same to my feet. I roll over and carve out a bigger hole in the top. I crawl out of the bag silently and find myself in the back of a pick-up truck. I silently reach down and slash the back left tire right before I jump out of the car and run.

I next find myself miles and miles under the ocean. I look around, panicked. How will I get out of this one? I try to take a breath, only to choke as water enters my lungs. _Oh, so I was able to breathe underwater before with the sharks, but now that I need to breathe, I can't? _I smirk. _Well, fuck you, Logic! _I close my eyes. _I can breathe. I can breathe. I can breathe… _I repeat that over and over in my mind under my lungs burn for air and I have no choice but to breathe in the water. But, of course, all that comes in is nice, fresh, cool air. I grin and start my long swim to the surface. _Take that, Logic!_

I finally open my eyes and look around. I'm in the room where I entered my fear landscape. I'm confused for a moment as Kevin walks in. What fear is this? It's only after Kevin starts talking that I realize that I'm done. "Congratulations, Ellie. You only had seven fears. That's pretty rare." I force myself to smile, hating the way he looked at me as if I were his prized pig. "Thank you, Kevin." And I walk out the door.


	17. Chapter 17

The next day I'm all nerves. Tonight, at dinner, Kevin will announce the final scores, including the scores of the Dauntless-born initiates. I wipe my palms on my jeans. "Nervous?" I turn and see Julia. She's been acting nice to me ever since the round two scores went up. I guess we have something in common now; our friends hate us. "Yeah," I sigh, running my hand through my hair. It's something I do when I'm nervous, which only makes it worse, because now I'm also worried about whether I've messed up my hair or not. "I mean, I don't want to get stuck guarding the border my entire life." I say. Julia nods. "Me too. I want to train the Dauntless-born." I grin at her. "I want to train the transfers." It's the first time I've admitted it. I don't know when I decided that, but I know that it's the truth.

At dinner I sit with Julia and Jay. Jay sits beside me, and is constantly distracting me with his little touches, and Julia sits across from us. Hailey is sitting with Ryan, Mark, and Brianna. They seemed to have accepted her when they heard about our fight. I guess they hate me more than they envy her for scoring better than them.

Halfway through dinner, Julia just can't seem to hold it any longer. "How long have you two been dating?" She blurts out. Jay and I immediately scoot away from each other. I look away from him, my cheeks burning. "I-we-I'm not…" but Julia doesn't listen. She just bursts out laughing. I look over at Jay. He's a red as I am, and I can't help but laugh along with Julia. "Is it really that obvious?" I ask her. Her only answer is a smile.

"Attention!" Everyone's heads snap up at Kevin's voice. He's standing on a balcony up top-where did that come from? "I'm ready to announce the rankings of our initiates. Remember, if you didn't rank in the top 10, you're out!"

As soon as he finishes his sentence, the ranks are posted behind him.

**1) Ellie**

**2) Rick**

**2) Julia**

**4) David**

**5) Reilly**

**6) Ryan**

**7) Mark**

**8) Izzy**

**9) Tom**

**10) Rob**

**11) Brianna**

**12) Gia**

**13) Frank**

**14) Hailey**

**15) Ross**

**16) Ben**

**17) Drew**

**18)Max**

**19) Leah**

I gasp as I see my name at the top of the list. _First? How was I first? _My eyes skim the rest of the list, jumping over the unfamiliar names that must belong to the Dauntless-born. "Congratulations, Ellie," Jay whispers in my ear. I look over my shoulder at him. I could count the centimeters between our lips before he leans in and we're kissing. I completely forget that we're in a room with almost every other member of Dauntless. I only know Jay and his lips and the way he smells like homemade soap. I wrap my arms around his neck and plunge my hands into his hair. His hand finds the small of my back and the other grabs a fistful of my long blonde hair. I grip his shoulders and melt into him as-

"Hey! Come on, not everyone wants to see that!" Jay and I split apart at Julia's shouts. I look around the room and see that we've mostly been ignored. Only Ryan seems to have noticed. He narrows his eyes at me. I smirk at him and look around the room. It's only after my eyes have swept the entire crowd that I realize who I was searching for. Hailey. She didn't make it into the top 10. She wouldn't want to stick around, so she must've left. Jay and I look at each other. He grins. "Well, you heard Julia. We should probably go." I can't help the grin that reaches me. "Yeah, that's probably the best idea." And Jay and I walk out of the dining room, hand in hand.

The next day, Julia and I walk to the pit. All of the initiates who ranked bellow a 10 have already left. The only transfers to be kicked out were Brianna and Hailey. Sadly, that leaves Julia and me with Ryan and Mark, but they shouldn't bother us anymore. I feel and arm wrap around my shoulders. "So," Jay says, flashing me a grin, "what job will you choose?" I look at him with a smirk. "I'm choosing to train the transfers, with you." Jay seems surprised at this. "Really? You ranked first; you could become a Dauntless leader if you wanted." I shake my head. "No, I'm not interested in politics. I want to help transfers find their place in Dauntless." Jay just smiles. "Well, it will be interesting to have someone accompany me. Speaking of accompanying me…I had something to ask you…" He glances at Julia, who takes the hint. "Oh! I think I forgot a shirt back in the room. I'll meet you guys there." She runs off as Jay and I laugh. "Anyway," Jay continues, looking at me. "You're receiving your apartments today. I wanted to know if…if you wanted to move into mine." I stop walking and turn towards him. He turns towards me. I see worry flash through his eyes for a moment before I wrap my arms around his neck. "Yes, Jay," I whisper softly as I reach up and kiss him before turning back to the pit and walking on.


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"First jumper, Hannah!" I shout with my arm wrapped around a small pale girl with short black hair. The crowd of Dauntless cheers in front of me. I release Hannah and grin at Jay.

Jay and I lead the transfers around, showing them where everything is. "This is the chasm. Be careful not to get to close." I say. I hear a snort behind me. I turn to see a large boy with cropped brown hair snickering at me. "Who would be stupid enough to fall into the chasm?" My eyes are flooded with so much grief and sadness that I have to look away, refusing to let tears fall. I can feel Jay's hand on my shoulder like a crutch. "Never doubt the danger lurking in every corner." I say in a dangerously low voice. Before he can speak again, I've turned around and continued walking.

"What did you think?" Jay murmurs softly. We're standing in our apartment after the first day. "I think I might have to jump into the chasm. Were we like that?" I ask. Jay chuckles. "Pretty much every year is like that. They tend to get better once they realize what the risk is." I sigh. I open my mouth to say something else, but it is erased from my mind the moment I look into his eyes. There's a question in them that I feel it's time to answer. I step into him. We're so close I can feel his breath. I close the distance between us and melt into him. He has one hand running through my hair while the other dances along my back. I grip his hair between my fingers and kiss him until I'm delirious. I pull away from him and stare into his eyes. The question is still there. I take a deep breath and dare to answer it. "I love you, Jay."

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**Thank you guys so much for reading this! This was my first experience writing a full story start-to-finish. I'd love to know what you thought about this and whether you might want more _Divergent_? Let me know!**


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